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H. KEENEY. Hatohway-Ga'te.

No. 223.519. Patented Jan. 13. 1880'".

LS A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FIELDING H. KEENEY, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THlRD OF HIS RIGHT TO DAVID MAYHEW, ()F SAME PLACE.

H ATCIHWAY G AT-E SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,519, dated January 13, 1880.

Application filed November 21, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FIELDING H. KEENEY, of Newport, Campbell county, Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Self-Acting Grate for Elevators, of which the following is a specifioation.

My invention relates to an improved form or construction of those gates or wickets for elevator-gangways which, during and by the ascent and descent of the platform, are automatically opened and closed-that is to say, which are held open when the platform is flush or level with the respective floors and which are closed on the departure of the platform from the floor-level.

In theaccompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a self-actin g gate for elevator-gangways embodying my invention, the platform being represented descending toward 2c the floor-level and commencing to open the gate proper or falling bar. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, showing the parts in the positions they assume when the platform is at the floorlevel. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the parts 2 5 in the positions accompanying an ascending approach of the platform to the floorlevel, the falling bar being represented by dotted lines. A may represent a portion of a floor of a warehouse or other building; B, a hatchway 0 therein; 0, stanchionguides; D, railing; E, gangway; F, platform; G, customary guiding and suspension frame, all of customary or any desired construction. T

Rising from the "platform, near one of its 3 5 corners nearest to the gangway, is a post, H, from whose front project two oblique flanges, I I, and to whose sides, respectively near to and remote from the gangway, are pivoted two gravitating latches, J K. These latches are 0 held in their normal (horizontal) position by stops L L. The latch K is prolonged in rear of its pivot, as atv k, sufficiently to cause said prolongation to outbalance the portion in front of the pivot and'cause the said front portion to gravitate upward. The stop L of this latch is therefore located above it. Other stops, M M, limit the strokes of the latches and assist in restoring them to their normal positions.

N represents a stationary post located on the floor immediately in front of the path of post H. To the rear side of post N is fulcrum ed the falling bar or gate proper,O, whose free extremity, when in the normal or horizontal position, rests in crotch p of post 1? on the other side of the gangway, and whose heel or rear extremity, when the bar is in its upturned or open position, rests against a stop, Q.

A weighted projection, o, from the under edge of bar 0, immediately beneath its fulcrum, may be provided to aid the tendency in said bar to seek and retain the horizontal position. The counterpoise O, beingattached and located as stated, is most effective to close the bar at the full open position of the latter, and least so at its closed position, so as to combine prompt action with avoidance of jar when it comes to rest.

'Pivoted to the rear of the bar O,'at equal distances on opposite sides of its fulcrum, are two similar tappets, It R, preferably in the form of rollers, as shown.

The operation is as follows: The platform being at the floor-level, as indicated in Fig. 2, and the bar 0 held to its. uplifted position by the impact of the rollers R R against the sides of the latches J K and of the heel of the bar against the stop Q, let the platform be supposed to be ascending. In so doing its latches will escape from contact with'ithe bar-rollers, thus releasing the bar and permitting it to drop to the horizontal position in obedience to the stress of the counterpoise 0,- but, to make the closure of the gate prompt and positive, the continued ascent of the platform brings its oblique flange I in contact with the roller B, so as to forcibly depress the bar and to cause it to seek and occupy the rest 11. On descent of the platform, as indicated in Fig.

l, the latch, striking the roller R on the bar, causes said bar to assume the vertical po- 0 sition, the latch J being in. this direction of platform motion inoperative in consequence of its being free to yield to a downward force. On the contrary, when the platform is approaching the floor-level from below it is the 5 latch J which comes into play by striking the roller R on the bar, the latch K being then inoperative in consequence of its short arm yielding downwardly to the impact of the roller R.

Among the essential features of m y self-acting gate may be enumerated the falling bar hay ing a tappet or roller on each side of its fulcrum and two reversely and alternately acting latches upon a post affixed to the platform, and, in conjunction with these, either a pair of oblique flanges upon the platform-post or an edge weight upon the bar, or such flanges and weight associated in the same gate, as in the present illustration, to insure the gates automatic closure at the proper juncture.

I am aware that elevator-gangway bars have been loaded at their butt-ends, for the purpose of counterbalance merely, and therefore make no claim to such.

I claim as new and of my invention 1. The combination, in a self-acting gate for elevator-gangways, of falling bar 0, having I crating latches J K and the two reversely and I alternately operating oblique flanges I I, for the purposes designated.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto 30 set my hand.

. FIELDING H. KEENEY.

Attest: 7

(Soto. H. KNIGHT, J. L. LOGAN. 

